Right Where We Belong
by CastleTVShowFan
Summary: Sequel to Connections. Six months later...


Title: Right Where We Belong

Author: Lisa

Rating: T (Violence)

Category: Story/Harm & Mac shipper of course!

Summary: Takes places six months after Connections. What happens to Harm and Mac that makes them feel as if they're right where they belong?

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Don Bellisario & co. I am just borrowing them for entertainment purposes. No infringement intended.

Author's Note: This story hasn't been beta read so please excuse any mistakes. This is the result of a comment from a friend who thought that a sequel was in order; you know who you are ;)

Six months later. . .

1945 Hours

Mac's Apartment

Mac lay stretched out on her couch with a blanket covering her. Just as she was about drift off to sleep, there was a knock at the door. Tossing the blanket on the floor, she got up and made her way to the door. She took a peek to see who was on the other side, and smiled. Then she opened it, revealing Harm in his dress whites.

"I wasn't interrupting anything, was I, Mac?" he asked hesitantly as he walked further into the room.

"I was just about to doze off," she answered with a smile, "but somehow I knew you'd come by tonight."

"There's that connection again," he said almost to himself.

"It comes in handy you know. Especially when one of us nearly drowns," she added with a half-hearted smile.

"Are you really okay? I know it's been six months, but I just want to make sure there aren't any lasting problems."

"I've had one or two nightmares since, but other than that, I'm fine. Really," she added for emphasis.

"If you're up for it, I thought maybe we could have that talk. You know - the one about where we go from here, what happens next in our relationship?"

"This from the man that I thought was commitment phobic," she said dryly. "I seem to remember a not-so-long-ago conversation on a ferry in Sydney Harbor. . ." she trailed off, watching his face.

"Oh, Sarah," he whispered as he looked at her intently, "if I could take back all that happened that night, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's not the first time I've made the biggest mistake in my life," he admitted.

"You have a point there, Sailor. I made mistakes after that night too, but only because someone was there and let me in. A certain someone had pushed me away."

"You don't have to tell me who that was, because I know only too well," he commented as he walked toward her, getting closer every second.

"Do you know how many times I've dreamt of this exact conversation and how it would end?" she asked breathlessly, his nearness most likely the cause of her sudden nervousness.

"Probably as many as I have," he replied as he brought his lips to hers in the softest kiss.

As she let herself savor the kiss, memories of the previous three kisses he'd given her in the last six years swirled in her brain. 'To think that I can count the number of times Harm's kissed me on one hand,' she thought as she deepened the kiss and felt the shivers course through her body. It was a miracle she was still standing as the seconds ticked by and they continued to be lost in the moment.

When she thought she couldn't possibly find any breath left in her, she broke the kiss and smiled at him with tears of happiness in the corner of her eyes. "Wow," she whispered. "You just made me feel like Debra Winger in 'An Officer and A Gentleman, you know that? You aren't by chance going to pick me up and lie me on the bed are you?" she asked.

"Only if you want me to," was his reply.

She pondered the possibility for about five seconds and said, "If you promise to hold me until I fall asleep, then the answer's yes."

"I think I can manage that," he conceded with a flyboy grin as he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

He laid her ever so gently on top of the bed and then came to lie beside her so that they were looking in each other's eyes. He saw so much there as he looked into her brown eyes. . .happiness, love, confusion, and just a hint of fear. He hoped she couldn't see the hint of fear in his own eyes, but figured she most likely could.

"To think that it's taken us this long to finally get it right," she said quietly with a sigh. "I'm just afraid I'll wake up and find that it's all a dream, Harm."

"I can promise you this: it's no dream, Sarah, but if it is, then I'm dreaming, too."

She smiled as she scooted toward him so he could hold her for the night. Forget pajamas, it was nearly 2300 now and she was too tired to worry about changing clothes. "Night, Harm. Love you," she said softly before she closed her eyes.

"Night, Sarah. Love you, too," he whispered back as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

0325 Hours

Harm had taken great pleasure watching Mac fall asleep a few hours before. She'd looked so peaceful and shortly he'd joined her in slumber.

Now he was visibly worried about her, as her tossing and turning had awakened him moments before. It was clear she was having a nightmare of some sort, and her grip on him was intense. . .so much so that it almost hurt. As gently as he could, he whispered in her ear, "Mac, it's okay. I'm right here. You're having a nightmare. Wake up and look at me."

She relaxed and opened her eyes to look at him, saying so quietly he could barely hear her, "You didn't find me in time."

"It's okay now. Try to get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try," she said with a small smile.

0730 Hours

"Hey, princess, it's time to get up," Harm said as he kissed Mac's eyelids and then her nose, finally working his way down to her lips.

"Oooh Sailor," she said in contentment as she looked up at him, "I could live the rest of my days like this. That was a very nice wake-up call by the way," she added with a sigh.

"You liked that, did you?" he asked in mock surprise.

"No, I was just saying that," she shot back. Changing tone quickly she said, "Of course I liked it, mister!"

"Want me to do it again?" he challenged.

"Do you want to?" she challenged back.

"Yes!"

"Then be my guest!" she hollered before grabbing a pillow and hitting him playfully.

Harm reached across Mac for his own defense weapon - namely a pillow - but then thought better of it and started tickling her instead. "How do you like that, Colonel?" he whispered.

"Harm, stop it!" she managed between fits of giggles. "You have such an unfair advantage you know that?" she added.

"I'll stop if you let me kiss you again."

"Fine," she conceded, half in defeat and half in anticipation as his lips descended once more on hers.

He broke the kiss reluctantly seconds later when he realized that they needed to get ready for work. If they didn't hurry, they'd have to no doubt face the admiral's wrath, and he was pretty sure that was something Mac didn't want to do.

"You shower and change while I grab some breakfast for the road?" he suggested questioningly.

"Deal."

0945 Hours

JAG HQ

Mac's Office

"You got a minute, Mac?" Harm asked as he stood in her doorway.

"For you - of course. What's up?"

He closed the door and came to sit in front of her desk. "I just got a fax from Leavenworth," he began, only to be cut off by Mac.

"Not again," she said in disbelief, her mind going instantly to one Clark Palmer.

"It's not Palmer, Mac. At least I don't think so."

"Oh sure, that makes me feel much better, Sailor. It's a big no on that one, Harm. It has to be Palmer. Who else in Leavenworth knows you so well?" she asked then, trying to force away the images of Palmer that were plaguing her at the moment.

He handed her the fax saying, "It looks like there's been an outbreak of the flu in one block of cells. Unless it's some terrible disease that looks like the flu but isn't."

"Would you please stop that?" she pleaded.

"What?"

"You know what, mister. Second-guessing who's behind this and what it all means. An outbreak of the flu I can handle, but anything else, and we're not taking this case."

"You worried something will happen to me?" he asked with a grin.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Look at what Palmer's done in the past, Harm. Impersonated you, tried to kill your former girlfriend, we thought he was the one behind the op-ed piece but he wasn't. . .you know he's not going to slip quietly from your life. Or the lives of anyone close to you."

"If Palmer ever comes after you, Mac, it'll be the last time he ever does anything, the last time he ever draws breath."

"Hey, power down, will you, Mr. Vigilante?"

"If he was here they couldn't hold me back fast enough," he said almost to himself, all the hatred and other emotions bubbling to the surface.

"I don't doubt it," she said with an amused smile. Gathering her thoughts and taking a deep breath she added, "You really want to go and check this out?"

"Yes."

"Then let's clear it with the admiral and get ourselves to Kansas."

"No, Mac. I don't want you near him. Who knows what he'd do to you, especially if he knew how close we were these days."

"See, that's exactly what he wants. He wants you to always have that fear of what he might do. One day you're going to have to let that go. . .going to have to stop looking over your shoulder.

"If I had even the slightest qualms about going, you'd be the first to know. My intuition isn't even sending warning signals. Besides, I thought he had like fifty people watching him around the clock. What could he possibly do? He hasn't even surfaced in Virginia for two years."

"All right, Colonel, you go, but if he even touches you, he may end up in a body bag."

"Being a hero is sweet of you really, Harm, but I prefer a man in tights with an 'S' on his chest," she said playfully.

"What happened to being a sucker for dress whites?" he asked, defeated.

"Still am. I just wanted to see what you're like when you're jealous," she said with a chuckle.

He gave her a dark look and said, "Not cute."

"Boy you're uptight."

"And you're observant," he shot back.

1630 Hours

Military Brig

Leavenworth, Kansas

They'd spent what felt like days in the car, making their way to Leavenworth to interview personnel and inmates about the latest flu incident and Harm was so wound up from the tension he snapped at Mac when she so much as looked at him.

"Could you possibly say two nice things to me, Harm?" she asked, all too prepared for a snappy remark.

"It's not your fault I'm being such a jerk," he said with a half smile. "I just want to make sure Palmer isn't behind what's been happening."

"Only one way to find out," she said as she reached for the door handle of the car.

Once safely inside the main room, Harm glanced around and spotted Palmer in the corner on a computer. He fought the impulse to make his way toward the other man and grab him. He wanted information but preferably without the use of force.

"Let's see what Palmer has to say for himself," Harm said as he glanced at Mac, motioning her to follow him.

"Would you relax?" she said in a stage whisper. "You look like your ready to go for five rounds of boxing."

"Hi, buddy," Palmer said as Harm came to stand in front of him.

Harm once again fought the impulse to grab Palmer or to come back with a sharp remark and instead opted for as small an ounce of courtesy as he could muster. "Been busy since I saw you last, have you, Palmer? Maybe mixing up some bacteria to create a flu-like virus?"

"To the point, aren't you, Harm? What makes you think I had anything to do with it?" he challenged.

"I just want the truth so we can help the inmates."

"The truth and nothing but the truth," he said mockingly before laughing hysterically.

"You tell me you had nothing to do with this, and I promise you'll never see me again."

"And how do you know I won't find a way out of this place? How do you know you'll never see me again?" he continued to challenge as he stood up.

"Tell me who did this! Who was it that set it up? Was it you, Palmer? Was it? Tell me!" Harm screamed as he started to lunge toward Palmer.

Mac watched the scene unfold in shock. Leave it to her partner to become a vigilante whenever he was in the same place as Clark Palmer. He may have promised her if Palmer ever hurt her it would be the last time, but she wasn't too thrilled at the thought that Harm just might strangle Palmer right here and now and be done with it.

"Harm," she said as calmly as possible, "why don't we interview some of the other inmates and guards and come back a little later?"

"I don't want to come back later, Mac. I want the answer to the question now," he said with just as much anger as before.

"You're not going to get one if you can't calm down," she whispered in his ear, praying Palmer didn't hear her.

"Fine," he said, defeated, "but this is far from over, Palmer."

1945 Hours

After three hours of questioning some of the inmates not directly affected by the flu-like virus, Harm was still not entirely convinced that Palmer wasn't behind it all. The guards all claimed that Palmer had never once left his designated area, but how could they be so sure? Palmer was a very clever man and Harm wasn't about to put it past him that he'd been an innocent in all of this.

Mac was meeting up with him any minute to compare notes, and the minute she walked in the room, all the tension faded and he managed a flyboy grin. "Hey, marine."

"Hey, sailor. You look terrible."

"Gee, thanks Mac. I've been waiting all day to hear you say that."

"What do you say we take a break? We could go to the hotel, order a pizza, and just relax. . .at least for a few hours," she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan, but can I throw in a massage somewhere in there?" he asked, half-teasingly.

"For you or me?" she teased back.

"I'll give you one if you do the same for me."

"That's a deal."

2100 Hours

Local Hotel

Room 122

"How's that feel?" Harm asked as he continued to rub Mac's back.

"If I died right now, I can promise you I'd die happy," she said with a sigh.

"Don't go anywhere on me yet, Mac. I just finally got it right between us."

"Not planning to. I'm just so content. I could live the rest of my days like this."

"One day soon you'll get the chance. I promise," he whispered as he kissed the back of her neck.

"Don't make a promise you can't keep," she whispered as she closed her eyes.

"Haven't yet," he whispered as he got up and made his way to his own room.

Next day

0645 Hours

Harm was putting the finishing touches on his wardrobe of the day before heading to get Mac. He figured a nice wake up call was in order, especially since he'd made her a promise last night.

Room 122

He knocked once on Mac's door, calling, "Mac? You up yet?" After three knocks, he decided to make his way to the brig to see if Palmer was more cooperative this morning. He thought nothing of Mac's not being up, and figured they'd meet up later.

0730 Hours

Brig

"Morning, Palmer. I thought maybe we could talk about what's been going on here lately. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" he asked as calmly as possible.

"It wasn't me this time, Rabb. I can tell you who started it, though."

"You're not just saying that so the blame doesn't land squarely on you?" he pressured.

"I have nothing to gain from it. I'd like to be straight with you for once." Changing topics, he asked, "Where's Colonel MacKenzie?"

"She overslept. She should be here a little later," he answered, praying it was true.

"You sure about that?"

"You know something I don't?" Harm asked, the panic rising.

"Let's just say I took a little walk last night."

"Palmer, so help me if you did something to my partner - I'll - I'll. . ."

"You'll what? You know, you two are a lot closer than I thought. So good at hiding it, too."

1345 Hours

A little over six hours later, and still no sign of Mac. His panic had risen increasingly in that time, and something told him Palmer was behind this one. Of course, he could just be fooling with him, but then why was there a huge knot in the pit of his stomach.

He'd made who knew how many calls to her cell phone and been in her room at least six times, with still no clue where she was. He forced himself off the bed and made his way to the brig again. He wasn't stopping his search, not so easily.

"Palmer where is she?"

"Who?"

"You know very well who I'm talking about."

"I can tell you she won't remember any of this," he replied.

"What do you mean? What did you do to Mac, you jerk? If you hurt her, I can guarantee you'll pay the ultimate price."

"Ooh, I'm really scared now."

Harm pulled out his sidearm and held it to the other man's throat. "If I didn't need you to help me find her, this would be your last day, Palmer."

"Calm down, Rabb. You really care for her don't you?"

"I don't have to answer that. Just tell me where she is," he nearly pleaded.

"She's about forty-five minutes away from here."

"Where is she? Tell me. . .now."

"She's in an abandoned warehouse," he admitted reluctantly.

"Let's go," he said then, clearing Palmer's leave with a guard.

1420 Hours

Abandoned Warehouse

Mac lay curled in a fetal position in the corner sleeping, thanks to the drug cocktail Palmer had given her last night. Other than a few cuts and bruises, she remained unharmed. It didn't take long for Harm to get the directions out of Palmer, and he was almost out of the car before it had come to a complete stop.

The minute he saw her lying there on the floor, he breathed a sigh of relief. He knelt down beside her and whispered, "Mac, come on, wake up."

After ten minutes of her lying there unmoving, he glanced behind him to see Palmer standing there with a big grin on his face.

"What did you give her?" Harm asked, suddenly afraid of the answer.

"A long-acting sedative that should wear off any minute."

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Mac began stirring and groaning from the pain of the uncomfortable position and the bruises all over her body. She slowly opened her eyes and tried to smile at Harm despite the pain.

"Hi," she said sleepily.

"Hi, Sarah," he whispered as he ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead.

She noticed Palmer watching the scene and commented, "So it was you."

"You both underestimate me," he said with a laugh.

Harm was holding Mac and had an arm around her, but he was also inadvertently touching a very big bruise on her back. She tried to hold herself in check, but the pain was too much and a tear slipped down her cheek. "Ouch!" she exclaimed as she flinched.

"What is it, sweetheart? I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked, concerned.

"It's nothing," she replied, trying to brush it away, but Harm wasn't so easily fooled.

He pulled her top up to see at least seven large bruises on her back. He knew by whose hand they'd been inflicted the moment he saw the flicker of satisfaction in Palmer's eyes.

"I promised you that it would be your last day if you hurt her, Palmer. Don't take my promises lightly," he said with all the pent-up anger he'd been holding at bay since that morning.

"Harm," Mac whispered, "he can calculate what you're going to do. Be careful. . .please," she said as she looked up at him.

"I promised you he'd pay if he so much as touched you," he whispered before finding her lips and placing his own there in a searing kiss.

He reached for his sidearm then and emptied the round into Palmer. There was no doubt in his mind now that the other man was dead as he saw the still form on the concrete floor. He wouldn't have to live with the fear that Palmer might come back one day to finish his work; not anymore.

Mac shivered and whispered, "He's dead." She was almost unable to believe it after all this time.

"Let's get out of here," Harm said as he stood and helped Mac stand.

Two weeks later

1145 Hours

JAG HQ

Harm's Office

When he heard the hesitant knock on his door, Harm glanced up from the file he was reading and smiled.

"I was beginning to wonder if someone had stood me up," Mac said with a disappointed expression.

"Lunch! Oh, Mac, I'm sorry. I completely forgot."

She closed the door and walked toward his desk. "I forgive you this time, but don't think I'll go that easy on you next time," she said with just a bit of threat behind the words before she kissed him.

He broke the kiss and reached for something in the top drawer. He smiled his famous flyboy grin and said, "I thought it was about time I gave you this."

Her mouth dropped open when she saw the black velvet box. "Oh Harm!" she breathed.

He handed her the box and came around the desk. Before she knew it, he was on one knee. "I've made a lot of promises over the years, but trust me when I tell you that I'll be the best I can to you and our kids. Will you marry me and take this ring as a promise of my love?"

"Yes! Yes, I will!" she promised as the tears slid down her cheeks.

"Then I know we're right where we belong," he whispered as he slipped the promise ring on her finger and kissed her with all the love he had.

The End

10


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